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If the world ended, could you keep your morals and values? Imagine that your a father, with a young child in a burned-out world, barely surviving out on the road, and there are cannibals and murderers out to get you. Over time, you would watch your child become thinner and thinner, and every now and then you're lucky enough to find some canned or jarred food here and there, but it's only a matter of time before you can't find anymore. Soon, you would both be too weak to move - - - would you murder someone if they had food? Yet, most people out on the road are just like you, with no food and searching for more - - - in that case, could you kill and eat a person to survive? Or would you let yourself and your child starve, keeping your morals and values intact?
This is a scenario people may have to face one day, especially with the shape the world is in today. Even now people are faced with sticking with their morals and values, from helping our fellow man to the decision of holding a door open for a stranger. The Road, Cormac McCarthy's Pulitzer Prize winning novel, brings the very question of humanity to the forefront, as well as how hard it is to hold onto it.
The father, The Road's main character, takes us on a journey through the mountains in a burned-out America, but the fires that took over are never explained and they didn't need to be. Apparently having been on the move for a couple of years, he wants to take his young son South to survive the winter months that are very close by. Readers get glimpses of what happened the night the grid went down from the father's point-of-view, but so many years have passed that the memories are few, the facts aren't completely straight, and any type of life before the fires seems to have been just a dream. So the two begin the story heading South, dragging everything they have scavenged in their travels inside of a metal shopping cart, and the father isn't sure they'll make it out of the mountains before winter. He only has tattered pieces of a map that they have carried for a long time, having numbered each piece with a broken crayon they had found, making it hard to estimate how far they need to travel.
While traveling, they very rarely run into other people, at one point, when they run into a very bad man, the father realizes he hasn't spoken to another person (other than his son) in at least a year. This is mostly because the majority of people that are still alive are the type of people that would rather kill you and take whatever you have than speak to you. Even most of the houses they come upon are burned and abandoned, but the father sees these buildings as a chance to find food and supplies: "The roadside hedges were gone to rows of black and twisted brambles. No sign of life. He left the boy standing in the road holding the pistol while he climbed an old set of limestone steps and walked down the porch of the farmhouse shading his eyes and peering in the windows. He let himself in through the kitchen. Trash in the floor, old newsprint. China in a breakfront, cups hanging from their hooks. He went down the hallway and stood in the door to the parlor. There was an antique pumporgan in the corner. A television set. Cheap stuffed furniture together with an old handmade cherrywood chifforobe. He climbed the stairs and walked through the bedrooms. Everything covered with ash. A child's room with a stuffed dog on the windowsill looking out at the garden. He went through the closets. He stripped back the beds and came away with two good woolen blankets and went back down the stairs. In the pantry were three jars of homecanned tomatoes. He blew the dust from the lids and studied them. Someone before him had not trusted them and in the end neither did he and he walked out with the blankets over his shoulder and they set off along the road again. " The young son is usually left close by outside because he seems scared that either there will be bad people or dead people inside.
Throughout this incredible, heart wrenching novel, the father slowly becomes more ill with what seems to be a case of pneumonia, possibly caused by all of the ash that is in the air from the fires; this makes him cough uncontrollably. Yet, he doesn't focus on that he may not live too much longer, instead he tries everything to get his son as far South as possible without too much of a plan of what to do when they get there.
The horror of this book is brought to light by the realism of what could happen if the world were to end, when people lose their humanity and begin to kill and eat their fellow humans. It leaves us wondering if we could hold onto what we are today when the basic need for shelter and food become more important than another person's life. But the father and son are examples of the few individuals who are able to hold onto their humanity during the end of the world: they share supplies if they can, they don't kill humans or animals to feed themselves, and they live by one rule: if a person is still alive, they take nothing from them.
The struggle these two go through is very real and believable, and McCarthy's writing is so well done that this book is hard to put down. Even while reading, most won't notice that there is only one character in the entire story that is given a name; our two main characters are never addressed by anything other than Papa or son/boy. The father's worry about keeping his son alive and unharmed is heartbreaking, for instance, one scene where he believes that he and his son are going to be found by cannibals, he quickly goes over with his son on how to shoot himself with the pistol, so neither of them will be taken alive. As a parent, I choked up in quite a few scenes, including this one - - - and as with the film adaptation, I cried heartily at the end.
This emotional, dark novel is an amazing book to read. The Road is bound to leave readers questioning what they would do in the same circumstances as the father. I highly recommend this book to people who love dystopian novels, but beware, this is a story you won't be able to forget.
This is a scenario people may have to face one day, especially with the shape the world is in today. Even now people are faced with sticking with their morals and values, from helping our fellow man to the decision of holding a door open for a stranger. The Road, Cormac McCarthy's Pulitzer Prize winning novel, brings the very question of humanity to the forefront, as well as how hard it is to hold onto it.
The father, The Road's main character, takes us on a journey through the mountains in a burned-out America, but the fires that took over are never explained and they didn't need to be. Apparently having been on the move for a couple of years, he wants to take his young son South to survive the winter months that are very close by. Readers get glimpses of what happened the night the grid went down from the father's point-of-view, but so many years have passed that the memories are few, the facts aren't completely straight, and any type of life before the fires seems to have been just a dream. So the two begin the story heading South, dragging everything they have scavenged in their travels inside of a metal shopping cart, and the father isn't sure they'll make it out of the mountains before winter. He only has tattered pieces of a map that they have carried for a long time, having numbered each piece with a broken crayon they had found, making it hard to estimate how far they need to travel.
While traveling, they very rarely run into other people, at one point, when they run into a very bad man, the father realizes he hasn't spoken to another person (other than his son) in at least a year. This is mostly because the majority of people that are still alive are the type of people that would rather kill you and take whatever you have than speak to you. Even most of the houses they come upon are burned and abandoned, but the father sees these buildings as a chance to find food and supplies: "The roadside hedges were gone to rows of black and twisted brambles. No sign of life. He left the boy standing in the road holding the pistol while he climbed an old set of limestone steps and walked down the porch of the farmhouse shading his eyes and peering in the windows. He let himself in through the kitchen. Trash in the floor, old newsprint. China in a breakfront, cups hanging from their hooks. He went down the hallway and stood in the door to the parlor. There was an antique pumporgan in the corner. A television set. Cheap stuffed furniture together with an old handmade cherrywood chifforobe. He climbed the stairs and walked through the bedrooms. Everything covered with ash. A child's room with a stuffed dog on the windowsill looking out at the garden. He went through the closets. He stripped back the beds and came away with two good woolen blankets and went back down the stairs. In the pantry were three jars of homecanned tomatoes. He blew the dust from the lids and studied them. Someone before him had not trusted them and in the end neither did he and he walked out with the blankets over his shoulder and they set off along the road again. " The young son is usually left close by outside because he seems scared that either there will be bad people or dead people inside.
Throughout this incredible, heart wrenching novel, the father slowly becomes more ill with what seems to be a case of pneumonia, possibly caused by all of the ash that is in the air from the fires; this makes him cough uncontrollably. Yet, he doesn't focus on that he may not live too much longer, instead he tries everything to get his son as far South as possible without too much of a plan of what to do when they get there.
The horror of this book is brought to light by the realism of what could happen if the world were to end, when people lose their humanity and begin to kill and eat their fellow humans. It leaves us wondering if we could hold onto what we are today when the basic need for shelter and food become more important than another person's life. But the father and son are examples of the few individuals who are able to hold onto their humanity during the end of the world: they share supplies if they can, they don't kill humans or animals to feed themselves, and they live by one rule: if a person is still alive, they take nothing from them.
The struggle these two go through is very real and believable, and McCarthy's writing is so well done that this book is hard to put down. Even while reading, most won't notice that there is only one character in the entire story that is given a name; our two main characters are never addressed by anything other than Papa or son/boy. The father's worry about keeping his son alive and unharmed is heartbreaking, for instance, one scene where he believes that he and his son are going to be found by cannibals, he quickly goes over with his son on how to shoot himself with the pistol, so neither of them will be taken alive. As a parent, I choked up in quite a few scenes, including this one - - - and as with the film adaptation, I cried heartily at the end.
This emotional, dark novel is an amazing book to read. The Road is bound to leave readers questioning what they would do in the same circumstances as the father. I highly recommend this book to people who love dystopian novels, but beware, this is a story you won't be able to forget.
Although mudlarks were also found in London, diving for pennies in the Thames mudbanks, this book is set in Portsmouth, so I was really enthusiastic to read this, hoping I’d know where the characters were larking about. Going to stay with my grandparents every half term means I know the area fairly well. Sure enough, most of the time I knew where the characters were, which added to my enjoyment of the book. In general, though, Sedden describes the scenes well enough that anyone could pick the book up and become immersed in its landscape.
Jimmy and Reg, the first-person protagonist and his best friend, were really realistic too – there were things like Reg having a stutter, the number of dead-arms the boys give each other (!) and the sense of guilt Jimmy feels when he realises he’s in the wrong, which made the boys really 3D, relatable characters.
I loved that the book brought to life a picture of not only mudlarking, but the start of the First World War and everyday people’s reactions to it. The twists that take place in the book can’t be guessed from the blurb, and I found myself surprised a lot of the time. The solution to the mystery had to be explained to me just as much as it did to Jimmy and Reg, which is rare, as I can usually guess what’s coming from at least a couple of pages before. PLUS, the solution was historically accurate. Double tick!
I reckon this book will appeal to boys (and probably girls too!) around 11-14, especially those with a love of history. Mind you, once I get the book back I’ll be sending it to my grandpa, who I’m sure will love it. It’s his old stomping ground, after all, although he’s never been as nasty as the policemen in the book!
If you liked this review, I also went into some of the history of mudlarking in Portsmouth on my <a href="http://www.a-worldofwords.com/2013/05/mudlark-by-john-sedden.html">blog</a>;; please feel free to check it out!
Jimmy and Reg, the first-person protagonist and his best friend, were really realistic too – there were things like Reg having a stutter, the number of dead-arms the boys give each other (!) and the sense of guilt Jimmy feels when he realises he’s in the wrong, which made the boys really 3D, relatable characters.
I loved that the book brought to life a picture of not only mudlarking, but the start of the First World War and everyday people’s reactions to it. The twists that take place in the book can’t be guessed from the blurb, and I found myself surprised a lot of the time. The solution to the mystery had to be explained to me just as much as it did to Jimmy and Reg, which is rare, as I can usually guess what’s coming from at least a couple of pages before. PLUS, the solution was historically accurate. Double tick!
I reckon this book will appeal to boys (and probably girls too!) around 11-14, especially those with a love of history. Mind you, once I get the book back I’ll be sending it to my grandpa, who I’m sure will love it. It’s his old stomping ground, after all, although he’s never been as nasty as the policemen in the book!
If you liked this review, I also went into some of the history of mudlarking in Portsmouth on my <a href="http://www.a-worldofwords.com/2013/05/mudlark-by-john-sedden.html">blog</a>;; please feel free to check it out!
BookInspector (124 KP) rated All This Has Nothing to Do with Me in Books
Sep 24, 2020
Well this one was weird… This book has a stunning cover, it is a tiny book, and I knew that this is going to be a quick read, and I bought it for only 10p when a couple of my nearby Poundlands were closing down. I thought it has a fun chick lit story for me, but I was very wrong… I kept reading it because I don’t like to DNF books, but till the last page, I have no idea what was it about.
The main character in this book is MS, and sometimes referred to as Monica, so it gives me a very strong feeling that this is some sort of memoir maybe? The one thing I could grasp was that MS is kind of psychologically unstable, she writes letters to the dead author, her relationship with XX is an absolute mess, but she kind of tries to explain her behaviour, by going back to the past and talking about her mother and stepdad. Yes, she had a difficult childhood, and if the story and format (it is a mash of letters, SMS, pictures, normal text etc.) would’ve been differently presented, it could’ve been an awesome memoir.
The writing style of this book was very unique and original, and it should’ve been really hard to write this book because it is filled with a huge amount of pictures. No, not some nice pictures, but pictures of random things e.g. a lighter taken from XX; sweaters worn on dates; 4pages of scooter pictures which might belong to XX, and many more. I think it took years to collect this amount of pictures, so props to the author for the patience and detail.
So, let me just jump to the conclusions here. This book won France’s Prix de Flore 2013 award, so it has to have something that I am not seeing, right? One thing I know, it wasn’t for me, but if you like award-winning books, which are different and really original, give this book a go, and you might enjoy it.
The main character in this book is MS, and sometimes referred to as Monica, so it gives me a very strong feeling that this is some sort of memoir maybe? The one thing I could grasp was that MS is kind of psychologically unstable, she writes letters to the dead author, her relationship with XX is an absolute mess, but she kind of tries to explain her behaviour, by going back to the past and talking about her mother and stepdad. Yes, she had a difficult childhood, and if the story and format (it is a mash of letters, SMS, pictures, normal text etc.) would’ve been differently presented, it could’ve been an awesome memoir.
The writing style of this book was very unique and original, and it should’ve been really hard to write this book because it is filled with a huge amount of pictures. No, not some nice pictures, but pictures of random things e.g. a lighter taken from XX; sweaters worn on dates; 4pages of scooter pictures which might belong to XX, and many more. I think it took years to collect this amount of pictures, so props to the author for the patience and detail.
So, let me just jump to the conclusions here. This book won France’s Prix de Flore 2013 award, so it has to have something that I am not seeing, right? One thing I know, it wasn’t for me, but if you like award-winning books, which are different and really original, give this book a go, and you might enjoy it.
The Brim Reaper
8.0
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With no job prospects on the horizon, former fashion buyer Samantha Kidd convinces boyfriend and...
The Looking Glass War
6.0
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“You are either good or bad, and both are dangerous.” It would have been an easy job for...
Connor Sheffield (293 KP) rated Gotham - Season 1 in TV
Jun 20, 2018
Cast (5 more)
Character development
Characters
Setting
Great Drama
Gripping storyline
Some of the more extreme comic book costumes (2 more)
Some of the characters
Certain plot elements that take away the drama (mostly if you've read or seen what happens next)
Imagine a Gotham without Batman....
Contains spoilers, click to show
When I first watched it when it first aired, I was sceptical and yet excited and then I felt let down. Gotham at first was a great cop show but what annoyed me was the fact that all these things that we knew to happen when Batman was around, were happening when Bruce Wayne was still a child and my brain couldn't wrap around the idea let alone get behind it, but at the same time I didn't know what I was expecting. Still I watched the first two seasons because I wanted to see some of my favourite villains and characters brought to life and I love Ben McKenzie as James Gordon!
However upon recently returning to watching Gotham I have come to see it in a new light and adore the show to pieces as I should have from the start. Gotham isn't about Batman, it's not about Bruce Wayne (not fully anyways). I see now that Gotham is a concept of a question:
"What if these villains we're here before Batman? Leaving only the police to deal with the extremity of Gotham most famous rogues!"
What makes this show so good is that we see a young, reckless and a little out of character Jim Gordon, who is even willing to bend the law to the point of breaking to get Justice. The drama is intense and you never can tell when Jim goes off on one, if he'll restrain himself to the law and doing things by the book. In a way there's a lot of Batman within Jim Gordon himself which makes the show even better.
Some of the characters annoy me at times. I liked Fish Mooney at first because she was dangerous and twisted, but when you bring a character back so many times you just lose interest and they're no longer a threat to the drama of their character development because you leave yourself with the only two viable questions: "will she ever stay dead?" And "when will she die for good?" I just don't seem to be concerned for her anymore like I did in the first season when she was double crossing Falcone. When everything was fresh and you didn't know if a stray bullet might hit her finally or if an Assassin was in her midst at all times waiting to strike. The drama for me didn't vanish but certainly lessened in later seasons.
The character development of characters like Bruce Wayne, Jim Gordon, Edward Nigma and Oswald Cobblepot are brilliantly written. With Bruce becoming a stronger minded young man in season two and Oswald's rise to power. I particularly loved Nigmas transformation into a killer because of the way it was set out, with the first murder being slightly on purpose, the second a complete accident, the third being to protect himself against discovery and the rest being a complete turn around into someone who discovers he enjoys the task of killing someone. The writers are excellent when it comes to development of characters and plot.
Can't wait for the new season and I hope they go out with a bang!
However upon recently returning to watching Gotham I have come to see it in a new light and adore the show to pieces as I should have from the start. Gotham isn't about Batman, it's not about Bruce Wayne (not fully anyways). I see now that Gotham is a concept of a question:
"What if these villains we're here before Batman? Leaving only the police to deal with the extremity of Gotham most famous rogues!"
What makes this show so good is that we see a young, reckless and a little out of character Jim Gordon, who is even willing to bend the law to the point of breaking to get Justice. The drama is intense and you never can tell when Jim goes off on one, if he'll restrain himself to the law and doing things by the book. In a way there's a lot of Batman within Jim Gordon himself which makes the show even better.
Some of the characters annoy me at times. I liked Fish Mooney at first because she was dangerous and twisted, but when you bring a character back so many times you just lose interest and they're no longer a threat to the drama of their character development because you leave yourself with the only two viable questions: "will she ever stay dead?" And "when will she die for good?" I just don't seem to be concerned for her anymore like I did in the first season when she was double crossing Falcone. When everything was fresh and you didn't know if a stray bullet might hit her finally or if an Assassin was in her midst at all times waiting to strike. The drama for me didn't vanish but certainly lessened in later seasons.
The character development of characters like Bruce Wayne, Jim Gordon, Edward Nigma and Oswald Cobblepot are brilliantly written. With Bruce becoming a stronger minded young man in season two and Oswald's rise to power. I particularly loved Nigmas transformation into a killer because of the way it was set out, with the first murder being slightly on purpose, the second a complete accident, the third being to protect himself against discovery and the rest being a complete turn around into someone who discovers he enjoys the task of killing someone. The writers are excellent when it comes to development of characters and plot.
Can't wait for the new season and I hope they go out with a bang!
Whatchareadin (174 KP) rated Hunted in Books
Apr 9, 2019
Thank you to the author for a copy of this book in exchange for my review.
Detective Scarlett Fry is taking a much needed vacation with her husband in Spain, but she just can't seem to escape work. When two dead bodies are discovered in the room across from hers, she has to find out what happened. But this isn't her jurisdiction, so she continues her vacation, but it's hard to get it out of her mind. Upon returning home, she gets a case of a murdered man and a missing family. Ironically her case at home and the murders in Spain are connected. Will she be able to find the killer or killers and will she be able to find the missing family?
This is the first book I have read by Dominique L. Watson, but I will definitely read more. I'm really looking forward to reading Murder for Justice, which is the first Scarlett Fry book. I devoured this book in a few days.
Detective Scarlett Fry can't seem to get a break. Even on vacation, as a homicide detective, work seem to fall at her feet. Or right across the hall from her hotel room in Spain. She could never imagine that thousands of miles away in her jurisdiction, a murder was taking place there as well. And a kidnapping. I was on the edge of my seat as Fry traveled the southwest part of the country from San Diego, California to small town Arizona hunting the killer. Twists and turns all along the way make this book very hard to put down. I highly recommend this book for anyone looking for a great fast paced thriller.
Detective Scarlett Fry is taking a much needed vacation with her husband in Spain, but she just can't seem to escape work. When two dead bodies are discovered in the room across from hers, she has to find out what happened. But this isn't her jurisdiction, so she continues her vacation, but it's hard to get it out of her mind. Upon returning home, she gets a case of a murdered man and a missing family. Ironically her case at home and the murders in Spain are connected. Will she be able to find the killer or killers and will she be able to find the missing family?
This is the first book I have read by Dominique L. Watson, but I will definitely read more. I'm really looking forward to reading Murder for Justice, which is the first Scarlett Fry book. I devoured this book in a few days.
Detective Scarlett Fry can't seem to get a break. Even on vacation, as a homicide detective, work seem to fall at her feet. Or right across the hall from her hotel room in Spain. She could never imagine that thousands of miles away in her jurisdiction, a murder was taking place there as well. And a kidnapping. I was on the edge of my seat as Fry traveled the southwest part of the country from San Diego, California to small town Arizona hunting the killer. Twists and turns all along the way make this book very hard to put down. I highly recommend this book for anyone looking for a great fast paced thriller.
Mark @ Carstairs Considers (2434 KP) rated The Key Lime Crime in Books
Aug 12, 2020
Murder Never Takes a Holiday
The week between Christmas and New Year’s is proving to be very busy for Hayley Snow. In addition to her regular food related articles for local magazine Key Zest, she is also covering the key lime pie contest, which is filled with more tension than Hayley expected. Meanwhile, her new husband, cop Nathan Bransford, is working overtime due to all the visitors on the island for the holiday. So when Nathan’s mother decides to come visit, Hayley finds herself playing hostess for a woman she’s never met before. Even worse, the pair stumble upon one of the pie contestants dead. Has the contest turned deadly? Or is there another motive for murder?
I’m always happy to escape to Key West via the pages of this series, although after reading this I may skip the New Year’s time period when I get to visit in real life. It sounded a little too crowded for me. Still, I loved getting to catch up with the characters, who are always a delight. We got to know one of the regulars much better here, which I really appreciated. The mystery itself could have been stronger, although we did have some good suspects and I was engaged and kept guessing until the end. Plan ahead before you pick up this book – I had to buy a key lime pie I was craving it so much. There isn’t a recipe for the pie at the end (we’ve gotten one in an earlier book), although one of the eight recipes is for a delicious sounding key lime parfait. This is another pleasant trip to Key West that will please the series’ fans.
I’m always happy to escape to Key West via the pages of this series, although after reading this I may skip the New Year’s time period when I get to visit in real life. It sounded a little too crowded for me. Still, I loved getting to catch up with the characters, who are always a delight. We got to know one of the regulars much better here, which I really appreciated. The mystery itself could have been stronger, although we did have some good suspects and I was engaged and kept guessing until the end. Plan ahead before you pick up this book – I had to buy a key lime pie I was craving it so much. There isn’t a recipe for the pie at the end (we’ve gotten one in an earlier book), although one of the eight recipes is for a delicious sounding key lime parfait. This is another pleasant trip to Key West that will please the series’ fans.
Kristy H (1252 KP) rated The Distant Dead in Books
Mar 4, 2021
A dark and well-written tale of sadness and forgiveness
Adam Merkel left his job as a professor in Reno to come to Lovelock, a small town, to teach math at their middle school. He was mostly mocked by his students, except for one, Sal Prentiss. After the death of his mother, Sal lives outside of town with his two uncles. Mostly friendless, he bonds with Mr. Merkel over math, chess, and more. So when Sal finds Mr. Merkel's body on his way to schoool--burned so that it's nearly unrecognizable--it turns his small world upside down. It upsets Nora Wheaton as well. A colleague of Adam's at the school, she thought she recognized a kindred spirit in him. Both seemed trapped in Lovelock: Nora had to return to care for her father. After Adam's death, Nora starts looking into his past to see what led to his horrible undoing. But so much of what she finds keeps leading back to the boy who befriended him--and found his body. As she tries to befriend the wary Sal, it opens up old wounds of her own.
I really loved Heather Young's book The Lost Girls, and The Distant Dead didn't disappoint either. She excels at creating excellent atmospheric novels with well-drawn characters. The Distant Dead perfectly captures small town life: how nearly everyone knows almost everything about everyone, but rarely interferes. How a small town can feel so stifling and claustrophobic. How the secrets and lies pile up until a man finds himself burned to death.
Young also covers the timely topics of drugs and addiction, which run as a thread across the book. Opiates don't seem like a tired trope here, though, but something that is eating up the town and ruining people's lives. It's no secret that I'm a sucker for a book with a good kid character, and I pretty much fell for Sal immediately. He's a great kid: real, vulnerable yet tough, and smart. He was an excellent narrator, with his portions telling what led up to Adam's death and Nora and Jake (a local EMT/firefighter) telling us what happened after. The book is surprisingly tense, with Young's beautifully written words jumping off every page. She's such a lyrical writer, weaving an amazing tale of sadness and redemption.
This isn't a fast read or a page-turning thriller. But it's a well-written book, with characters you won't soon forget. There's a lovely, albeit sad and dark, story here. Definitely worth a read. 4+ stars.
I really loved Heather Young's book The Lost Girls, and The Distant Dead didn't disappoint either. She excels at creating excellent atmospheric novels with well-drawn characters. The Distant Dead perfectly captures small town life: how nearly everyone knows almost everything about everyone, but rarely interferes. How a small town can feel so stifling and claustrophobic. How the secrets and lies pile up until a man finds himself burned to death.
Young also covers the timely topics of drugs and addiction, which run as a thread across the book. Opiates don't seem like a tired trope here, though, but something that is eating up the town and ruining people's lives. It's no secret that I'm a sucker for a book with a good kid character, and I pretty much fell for Sal immediately. He's a great kid: real, vulnerable yet tough, and smart. He was an excellent narrator, with his portions telling what led up to Adam's death and Nora and Jake (a local EMT/firefighter) telling us what happened after. The book is surprisingly tense, with Young's beautifully written words jumping off every page. She's such a lyrical writer, weaving an amazing tale of sadness and redemption.
This isn't a fast read or a page-turning thriller. But it's a well-written book, with characters you won't soon forget. There's a lovely, albeit sad and dark, story here. Definitely worth a read. 4+ stars.
Rikki Hammond (33 KP) rated Gloom in Tabletop Games
May 27, 2019
Unique concept and theme (1 more)
Plays well with all player counts
Really needs the right group of people to play it (1 more)
The theme can put some people off
A unique card game that is marred by it's own concept
I will come out and say this now: Gloom won't be for everyone. It's definitely a unique game, which can sadly be marred by it's own ideas.
The game revolves around each player choosing one of five families, and your goal is to make them as miserable as possible, before killing them in a wacky and gruesome way.
The way you do this is by placing cards on top of each family member, which will give them negative happiness points. You can also place cards on other players members to give them positive happiness points, which ironically, are bad. Once you feel you've accrued enough negative points, you can kill them outright, removing them from the game. Some cards may have a symbol on them, which can add bonus points if a certain kill card is played on them in time, and every card has a little wording on the bottom, that tells a story of the grisly fates that await your family members. One person could be hounded by ferrets before falling down a well, or maybe excluded from a celebration before being mauled by bears.
Once all five of one players family members are dead, the game ends, and whoever has the most total negative points at the end wins.
Gloom is a pretty cool looki g game, as all the cards are transparent, and when cards are laid on top of each other, it can hide certain pieces of the card underneath it. The main draw of the game is the storytelling aspect of it, seeing how each family member is going to meet their death, and unwinding a story based off that.
Sadly, take this aspect away from it, and the game basically boils down to players placing cards on top of others until someone ends the game by killing all their characters, which can actually be a little boring in my opinion.
If you can find the right people to play this with, Gloom can be a lot of fun, but more often than not, this isn't the case, and despite the cool concept and looks, it can fall rather flat.
The game revolves around each player choosing one of five families, and your goal is to make them as miserable as possible, before killing them in a wacky and gruesome way.
The way you do this is by placing cards on top of each family member, which will give them negative happiness points. You can also place cards on other players members to give them positive happiness points, which ironically, are bad. Once you feel you've accrued enough negative points, you can kill them outright, removing them from the game. Some cards may have a symbol on them, which can add bonus points if a certain kill card is played on them in time, and every card has a little wording on the bottom, that tells a story of the grisly fates that await your family members. One person could be hounded by ferrets before falling down a well, or maybe excluded from a celebration before being mauled by bears.
Once all five of one players family members are dead, the game ends, and whoever has the most total negative points at the end wins.
Gloom is a pretty cool looki g game, as all the cards are transparent, and when cards are laid on top of each other, it can hide certain pieces of the card underneath it. The main draw of the game is the storytelling aspect of it, seeing how each family member is going to meet their death, and unwinding a story based off that.
Sadly, take this aspect away from it, and the game basically boils down to players placing cards on top of others until someone ends the game by killing all their characters, which can actually be a little boring in my opinion.
If you can find the right people to play this with, Gloom can be a lot of fun, but more often than not, this isn't the case, and despite the cool concept and looks, it can fall rather flat.